The Second City
From the theater that gave us such famous comedic actors as Dan Ackroyd, John Belushi and Mike Myers comes a hilarious group whose presentation gives you tools you can use to help solve everyday business issues. Performers from The Second City give you insight into the elements of improvisational comedy—comedy completely made-up on the spot—while demonstrating how these skills apply to the business world and how you can use them to meet the challenges you face. You get a new, interactive way to explore issues relevant to your organization and have fun in the process.
In an engaging keynote presentation, your audience will be treated to an exciting combination of comedy sketches focused on the topic you’ve chosen, as well as improv games that get your audience involved in what’s happening on stage. Amidst the laughter, you’ll learn how the basic tenets of improvisation—teamwork and collaboration, creativity, innovation, risk-taking, communication and the ability to think on your feet—will improve your organization’s environment and interactions.
TOPICS
Funny Business: The Live Customized Comedy Show
The Second City’s most popular offering, custom shows are clean, one act revues lasting approximately 50-60 minutes, and prepared specifically for your company. A third of the show is made up of original scenes crafted by TSC’s writers and based on the day-to-day life of your company and business. Additionally, the revue includes equal parts “best of” Second City sketches and improvisation — all carefully chosen to fit your audience. You approve all content and they work hard to make it suitable to your organization.
Interactive Talk Show
The talk show helps you transform what could be a series of podium speeches into an opportunity for your executives to connect with an audience. You get to pick the guests, and The Second City’s host will tee-up their talking points with light questions and a little fun, including “commercial breaks” as live scenes throughout the show. These “commercials” are custom-written sketches that highlight the topics of the day, generating hearty laughs and a great transition into discussions between the host, the guests on stage, and the audience who is involved via roving microphone (thanks, Donahue). The talk show typically runs 60-90 minutes.
BizQuiz: The Game Show About Your Company
This customized game show, complete with an over-the-top host and competitive contestants, is a great way to convey some interesting facts and insights about your company, new products, or internal process changes. The 45-60 minute show has an open format and can even incorporate your executives or guests to show off their knowledge on the unique details of the industry (think “name that acronym” or “buzzword bingo”).
Improv Keynote
Audiences loathe flat, cookie-cutter monologues posing as ‘keynote speeches’. The Second City’s improv keynotes are interactive, funny experiences that encourage your audience to “think outside the box” and become more innovative in their careers. The program starts with a focus on Innovation, the very element that has allowed The Second City to create award-winning productions on stage and television, and combines presentation, demonstration, audience participation and entertainment elements in a perfect blend. Each keynote contains sharp, funny hosting supported by hilarious videos to reinforce the learning points. Improv keynotes typically run 45-60 minutes.
Full Biography
Our unique brand of social and political satire mixed with improvisation has delighted audiences all over the world. The skills we use to create the world’s best satire and comedy are the same skills we teach every day to many of the world’s most successful corporations, helping them become more innovative, team driven and nimble organizations.
We use humor and open conversation to honestly identify challenges, and improv learning techniques that build both individual and team skills to address those challenges. In fact, because everything we do in improvisation is about enabling the ensemble, teamwork is an inescapable outcome of our work.
Behind “the funny” is a powerful learning methodology and a sensibility that gets to the truth in any situation, which is what makes us funny in the first place. Our mission with our corporate clients is to bring a little humanity and authenticity back into business, because our experience shows that humanity trumps fear, and when fear is gone, it is possible to create, innovate and connect powerfully.
